


Perpetuating the Stereotype: Blackness, Parenting, & Murder

by Sheogorath



Category: Original Work
Genre: Autism, Autism Acceptance, Gen, Meta, crime prevention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-29
Updated: 2012-12-29
Packaged: 2017-11-22 20:43:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/614139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sheogorath/pseuds/Sheogorath
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The result of replacing the word 'Autistic' with the word 'black'. Think the NTs who sympathise with the murderers of Autistic people will finally get a clue?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Perpetuating the Stereotype: Blackness, Parenting, & Murder

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Perpetuating the Stereotype: Autism, Parenting, & Murder](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/14992) by Brenda Rothman. 



> Since this essay is basically a 'slavish copy' with only a few changes, I'm voluntarily giving up any rights I may have under UK IP law to the original author.

# Perpetuating the Stereotype: Blackness, Parenting, & Murder

  


### by Brenda Rothman

_On March 31, 2012, four-year old black person Daniel Korby was allegedly killed by his mother. I originally wrote this essay just nineteen days before Daniel’s death, about George Hodgins’ murder._

Daniel Kahneman, in his book 'Thinking Fast and Slow', tells us that it takes as little as two occurrences of an event for our brain to form a pattern and conclude that the two events are normal. Two facts juxtaposed just two times and we believe that one fact causes another.

All we need are two news reports of 'murder' coupled with 'black child' and we believe it’s normal that a parent would kill a black child. Two statements that a black child is a burden and all the lives of black children are devalued. Two opinions that non-Caucasian parenting leads to mental breakdowns and people believe that it is true.

Last week, police reported that George Hodgins, a 22-year old black man, was killed by his mother, 53-year old Elizabeth Hodgins, who then killed herself. After I read the headlines and absorbed the shock of this tragedy, I looked for the patterns that the news reports were forming about blackness and parenting.

The San Jose Mercury News reporters, Lisa Fernandez and Joe Rodriguez, wrote that “Taking care of black children is hard enough, but caring for them when they grow up can test a parent’s resolve like nothing else.”

They stated that “Parents interviewed by this newspaper said they understood what would drive a parent of a black child to commit such a senseless act.”

The article quotes a mother of a 19-year-old black son as saying: “We don’t know what caused this mother to do this. But every mother I know who has a child of different ethnicity has a moment just like that.”

Another mother is described as “luckier than parents whose children can’t function as well as her [22-year-old black] son can.”

The article ends with a quote by a father of a 23-year-old black man as saying, “This poor lady. [...] I was denied all these services that my tax dollars go to support. And then you just become a prisoner. You can’t ever leave the person in your care.” 

Another mother of a black child penned this opinion in the Santa Cruz Sentinel: “And so there will literally be hundreds of other mothers who will come to the same breaking point as Elizabeth Hodgins.”

The Daily Mail quoted the executive director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People as saying that “parents with black children are ‘very close to that line of going over the edge'.”

And so the pattern is established. A black child is a burden on a parent. A black child imprisons the parent. A parent of a black person will suffer admirably, reach their limit, and, possibly, kill their child. And people will accept this as understandable.

If you are black, you will be scared to death of the parents of black people. And for good reason – apparently, we could go off at any time. If you are a parent (or potential parent), you’ll have a damaging perspective on what it’s like to be a parent of a black person.

Reporters have already framed the issue with 'disability', 'burden', and 'sympathetic killing'. Those of us who have personal experience with blackness need to take back the conversation. We need people to hear the other side of the story, those parents who do not believe that these events are normal. Those who don’t see black children as burdensome and imprisoning. We need reporters to interview black people about this story. We need to hear black people's stories of being parented, well or poorly, and from those who believe that black lives have intrinsic value, hope, and joy.

I understand that tragedies sell news, but these reporters reflect a wider view of life with non-white skin as pitiful, diminished, and burdensome. The reporters and editors had first shot at framing the issue. We need to take it back. We need to change the patterns. We need to challenge reporters with questions. We need to reframe the conversation.

Not merely to be cheerful or optimistic. Not merely to present a 'balanced' view. But to prevent black lives from being devalued. To eliminate the perception that parenting black children is burdensome and hopeless. To encourage black people that other kinds of parenting exists. To show parents that other kinds of black lives are possible.

To prevent another pattern of 'murder' and 'black child'.

**Author's Note:**

> Copyright © 2012 Brenda Rothman. All rights reserved.  
> This essay has been adapted without permission under the Fair Dealing exception for the purposes of criticism and review enshrined in the Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act, 1988.


End file.
